The South African has also scored three centuries in the One-Day Cup and two in the Championship in 2017.

“No disrespect to any other cricketer in Glamorgan’s history.. but he’s up there with the very best,” said Croft.

Croft played for the Welsh county alongside West Indies legend Viv Richards, and Australians Matthew Elliott and Mike Kasprowicz in one-day winning sides in 1993, 2002 and 2004.

Glamorgan’s list of overseas players over the last 50 years also includes of Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis, batsmen Majid Khan and Javed Miandad, South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, and India all-rounder star Ravi Shastri.

Croft won 50 one-day caps for England and admitted feeling emotional after the dramatic win over Essex.

“I’ve played with some wonderful one-day players and the form he’s in right now, he (Ingram) is up there at the top,” he said.

“I don’t want to go too far, but it is as good as it gets – he’s in the form of his life and he wants to continue, he doesn’t rest on his laurels.”

Ingram’s white-ball heroics

2015 Three centuries in One-Day Cup, averaging 81

2016 Tops county averages in One-Day Cup and T20 Blast, scoring a century in each and a total of 869 runs

2017 Three centuries in One-Day Cup, plus two in first four T20 Blast matches

Glamorgan have won all five one-day matches in which Ingram has reached three figures in 2017, but the player was keen to share the credit with his partners.

“It’s nice to start building good combinations, we’re putting together partnerships quite regularly and we’re communicating well at the crease, so hopefully we can keep doing that,” the 32-year-old left-hander told BBC Wales.

“We’ve got to start afresh (in the return home matches against Sussex and Essex), coming off a win is great, but it was down to the last ball and could have gone either way.

“Getting back to Cardiff will be nice, we get great support and I’m looking forward to a big weekend.”

Ingram, who made 40 limited-overs appearances for South Africa before joining the Welsh county as a Kolpak player, has re-signed for Glamorgan for white-ball cricket only in 2018 and 2019.